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Why do you say they are a compromise? Thats why I want a 5 fin, learn how I surf on different fin clusters

LBCrew know's his sh!t.

Not trying to put words in his mouth, but i think he is referring to fin placement. On a quad/thruster setup you are limited in fin placement. On a custom board, you could dial in what suits you best, meaning closeness of the fins to the rail, closeness of your back fins to your trailer fins, and so on.

I'm def not as knowledgeable as LB, but from picking up tidbits of useful info from him on here, I'm betting this is what he is talking about. Hope this helps. LBCrew can def explain it better.

I can't vouch for this board in the ad but I surfed a Lost Shark for a couple of years. Great board for NJ, worked in everything. If the board is in good shape, $350 is a great price and I'm sure you can talk the seller down a few bucks. Good luck either way.

I got a Proctor Monsta with a 5 fin set up. It was a little on the expensive side due to shipping the board from cali. It also took a few months to get it. But it is the sickest board I've ever had. And Todd was super cool through the process too. Him or his girl would keep me up to speed the whole time, sending pics and emails. It did take a while, but that made it so much better once it came. I felt like a 5 year old on Christmas morning when the UPS truck pulled up.
I've had a ton of good boards over the years, but this is definitely. I've had sick sessions in waist slop and head high barrels.
It's also my 1st 5 fin. I never liked the idea, but I have no issues with it.... Slater rides 5 fin set ups. If it works for him, it's good enough for me

... i think he is referring to fin placement. On a quad/thruster setup you are limited in fin placement. On a custom board, you could dial in what suits you best, meaning closeness of the fins to the rail, closeness of your back fins to your trailer fins, and so on.

Remember a quad/thruster convertible is a compromise, but a good all-arounder or "one board quiver" type board. You'll learn a lot from playing with different fin setups and combinations.

there is a notion that you have to "split the difference" between the placement of the front fins on a quad or a thruster...i think the difference is that a straight quad's front fins are placed at 12" up from the tail & a thruster's are 11" (i could totally be wrong about the #'s), but when i was talking w/ brian wynn about ordering up my first tri-quad board, he said that it's not something to worry about & that it's not a big deal. i currently have 3 boards that are tri-quad set ups & while quads tend to take more fine-tuning of the fin combo, they're all set up as quads at the moment. 2 of them i've never even ridden as thrusters yet...they're so fun as quads i see no reason to mess w/ it.
the wynn i mentioned earlier is going to be my honeymoon quiver next summer...just 1 6'3" for 10 days in costa rica. it'll handle anything i'm likely to come across down there, outside of the odd DOH+ day.

Lost Shark is a great board for jersey conditions, comes either in a swallow tail or a round tail, both with double wings. I have the round tail, board is smooth and loose, and absolutely flies with the quad set up

yea, 42... the rail fins are usually more forward on a straight up quad. The numbers vary according to board length/design, but in general, you're right... further forward on a straight quad. On a convertible, especially if the guy's coming off a thruster, most are set up as a thruster, and the rear quad fins are "fit in" to that config to give it a quad option. That's where the "compromise" comes in. But with today's removable fin systems opening up some amount of adjustability options (Probox, FCS Fusions...) it works fine. If you only have one board, and you have a bunch of different fins, you can switch it up according to conditions. But most guys (like me and you, apparently) find they like the board one way better than the other, and just stick with the way they like it best for good.

I have two five fin setups, 5'10 firewire Rapidfire and 5'6 rusty DWART, both great boards and i regularly switch from a quad to thruster depending on the surf, never had either fin box break yet.
The dwart is such a great all around board. Ride in knee high mush and taken it 2x to nica with overhead hollow swells; def a board you should check out.

Never heard of the fin blocks being weaker. If you want a choice of a few other boards that work well in Jersey, I would suggest the Haydenshapes Shred Sled. I just purchased one and I love it! Also, look at the Aloha Bean, 7S Cog, and check out Island Style in Sea Bright. Tommy is about the most experienced shaper in the area.

5 fin convertables are great but like LBcrew said it's a compromise. You lose a lot of pivot on the quad placement when that front fin is back at 11" as a thruster is set up. 1" is a huge number when messing with fin placements. I learned this first hand by riding ProBox Fin Systems which gives you 1/2" adjustability and it changes the board dynamics significantly.
Most knowledgeable guys I talk to prefer a quad in chest high and below waves and a tri fin in head+... not an absolute rule but a lot of surfer's preference.